Day 14: Provo to Price, UT

Tomorrow we will break 1000 miles.

I was just looking on my Garmin stats and it says I've been riding over 64 hours, burned over 45000 calories (that's around 112 bacon cheeseburgers) and climbed almost 48,000 feet. Granted there is occasional operator error and sometimes the data just looks off with too much elevation showing up on the Garmin but still ... not bad.

Today was pretty challenging. A ride some called technical and others called dangerous. We left really early at 5:45 to minimize traffic. The route had a ton of construction that left narrow or no shoulders in several places. We got it all today: Strong headwinds as we entered the canyon ... at least 30 mph ... there were several windmills at the mouth of the canyon. Crossing cement barriers and riding on dirt roads in construction zones (they weren't working). Rumble strips in the middle of a narrow shoulder that left sometimes a 6 inch strip of pavement to ride on without going into the lane. A cold rain after Soldier Summit on the descent. And we pretty much agreed - Utah drivers can be really rude.

Despite these challenges, the ride itself was beautiful. Long climbs up Price Canyon through green mountains and the beginnings of canyon lands - including the famous Utah red rock. Then after the summit the landscape became pure canyon badlands with rock pinnacles and deep narrow rifts. It was beautiful and stark. The stone was grey, pink, red and shades of brown. The descent was steep but I kept stopping to take photos, despite the rain that had already caught me at the summit fast on my heels. I got in just in time before the rain set in ...

After getting cleaned up some of us went to the Dinosaur and archeology museum. Huge skeletons of a mammoth and others extinct critters that were found locally. We'll bike pass several dig sites tomorrow on the way to Price. Should be a pretty ride tomorrow, and relatively easy. Then we can head out to Arches National Park or go white water rafting ... nice choices for a fun afternoon.

Day 13: Salt Lake City to Provo

I think most of the Salt Lake area is under construction. Is this our stimulus $ at work? Today was slow going - lots of navigating, convening with a GPS to find alternative routes and we even had a bridge to nowhere. The route sheet had roads that were shut down for construction and routed us over an overpass that had been knocked down. Seattle Bob has a GPS so he's great to ride with - besides his wonderful company - it lowers your chance of getting totally lost dramatically. Maybe it's time to figure out that GPS application on my blackberry ...

But it was a beautiful day. Sunny, 70s, and ... a good 20 mph headwind the first couple of hours. But the wind didn't matter too much as we were stopping every few blocks in Salt Lake suburbia and heading south through neighborhoods and subdivisions for the entire 68 mile day. The Wasatch mountains were on the left rising sharply. Tons of the neighborhoods we rode by had amazing views at the foot of the mountains. There is still a lot of snow up there. We rode right through Brigham Young University Campus ... a beautiful campus. Huge stadium ...

I did get a hotel flat this morning ... always mysterious ... like little hotel imps run around and let the air out of your tires. You wake up in the morning with a flat tire ... mine was caused by a piece of copper wire that are apparently all over the sides of the interstates from blown out tires. They sneakily work their way in and you have to use tweezers to pluck them out. Luckily Wonderful Shawn our mechanic changed it in all of 3 minutes. Not that I can't change my own flat, mind you, but it takes me closer to 20 or 30 minutes and usually a fair amount of dirt, colorful language and the occasional bruise (my tires are super tight on the rims - really difficult to get on.)

Our 13 new riders were with us much of the day. Seem like a great group of folks. There are 4 more women now ... I find this exciting for some reason (don't know why - I often seem to ride with the boys though I miss my Heidi and Emily and Christina and TNT gals for training rides.) Based on today it looks like I'm faster than all the new gals, too, so maybe no gal ride buddies on this stretch either but we'll see how they climb. I may well take this back after I get left in the dust.

Tomorrow sounds really challenging. Beautiful if we can take our eyes off the road long enough to see. Tons of construction. We leave at 5:45 am to try and avoid as much traffic as possible.

Day 11 and 12: Wendover to Salt Lake City and a Hooray Rest Day

If you haven't discovered the maps featured under the Garmin Data and Stats on the right hand side of the blog, the entry from Wendover to Salt Lake is a great time to check it out. If you look at the map and change the view to satellite view, you can see the huge expanse white that is the Bonneville Salt Flats and then Great Salt Lake. It's a crazy piece of our planet.

In bike terms, riding that day meant 40ish miles across salt flats which looked alternatively like a moonscape of pure shimmery white or yellow sand and a huge shallow lake. Many of the flats were covered in water because of all the rain and storms that had come through. We passed through the flats just after dawn ... we had a 118 mile day and an early start so extra time was important - especially for slower riders in our stops-a-lot group.

We also had a wicked headwind that lasted for at least 60 miles, and then picked up again even harder the last 20 miles of the ride. Headwinds can be the hardest part of riding ... downright discouraging. To me worse than climbing mountains. To cope with the wind, a bunch of us formed up in a double paceline which had been perfected by a smaller group of riders the day before, including Bob from Seattle and Chris from Ohio - (you can see their blogs listed on the right side of my blog if interested in another take on this trip and photos - I just linked them onto mine). For non-bikers, a paceline is basically where you follow a rider in front of you closely enough to benefit from the draft. You rotate regularly to share the work ... the front of the line "pulls" and the back of the line "drafts". A double paceline is basically two columns that rotates clockwise, so you take a turn front left, a turn front right, and then fall back down the line as the paceline rotates every 1/2 mile. It's obviously important to be a very steady rider with good bike handling skills to do this safely. While I've done single pacelines frequently, doubles were new to me but really effective in an otherwise soul sucking headwind. Plus you had ever changing folks to chat with during the rotation which makes 118 miles go a lot faster.

Anyway, we made decent time given the winds. It was incredibly beautiful out there. After 40 miles the scene changed back to high desert and sagebrush. And as we closed in on Salt Lake City the snow capped Wasatch mountains rose in the skyline. For the last 40 miles we were pretty much running from an ugly black storm that slowly chased us into the city. Luckily we were moving faster than it was, but it was motivation to move along and avoid a drenching. There was nothing out there - no services, not even a bush if you had to take care of a necessity. Made for some entertainment for passing truckers, often celebrated by long honks. SAG vehicles stopped frequently for water, though official SAG stations were 40 - 45 miles apart - that's a long way for sag support.

Coming into Salt Lake I was riding with Seattle Bob and Gerard one of our ride leaders and we ended up not being able to get through and exchange and were forced off the road early. This turned out to be a good thing as we charted a better route the the frontage road by Salt Lake that went past the Kennecot Copper mine, which is a huge plant and looked pretty interesting to check out on any day when you hadn't been in the saddle forever.

A challenging biking day on already tire legs, but real teamwork made it a fun and successful day and I think helped pull the group together tighter.

And, one of the highlights of my day was the surprise gift of chocolate covered strawberries and cookies from Tracey and Neil and the 3 little Snyders waiting for me at the hotel. THANK YOU!!! Wonderful surprise and quickly gone.

The HOORAY REST DAY

Let's just say SPA. Many thanks to Gary King for the great recommendation of Kura Door Spa. I went with another gal doing the ride and had a fabulous massage and pedi, sat in the steam bath and otherwise recovered. Wonderful way to get the body back in shape for another 8 days of the (gulp) Rocky Mountains. Then we went for a nice lunch and to visit the Mormon temple and genealogy library. You'll be happy to know I did not convert. But I did look up some of my maternal ancestry at the library and found the 1930 census records for my maternal Grandparents which was very cool. Turns out my grandmother married at 17, they could both read and right and speak English. Pretty interesting look at those times by what questions are asked on the census.

Today we lost 5 wonderful riders who were just doing the first leg of the trip. But we have 13 more joining us I'll meet at breakfast. Looking forward to our next leg. It's another huge cue sheet which will mean some slow navigation out of Salt Lake to Provo tomorrow, 64 miles with hills.

Day 10: Elko to Wendover, NV

A long ride today and our first century - 107 miles. Folks are getting tired -
including me. You see a lot more shifting around in the saddle trying to get
comfortable ... Derrieres are starting to complain. Rear ends become dinner
conversation with favorite remedies offered up with extreme confidence. We have a
doctor with us who has offered to examine any suspect spot ... Don't know if anyone
has taken him up on it.

Today's ride was just exquisite. The Ruby Range to the south was snow capped with
sagebrush and pasture land leading up to it. Just one beautiful view after another.
It never stopped all day ... Mountains in the distance, ranch land, and sagebrush
and wildflowers. And we'd keep going and it would just get better. We climbed up a
canyon over the Pequot mountains - about 10 miles to around 7000 feet. These
mountains had beautiful rocky outcroppings and the canyon felt narrow after riding
in the huge open spaces. At the top we had a long and fast descent into yet another
gorgeous dessert vista ... This time more sandy and spare. Clearly it had missed a
lot of the rain. But maybe not for long - to the right was a massive black storm
and you could see the grey where rain was falling. I missed the rain, but some
riders coming behind me were pulled because of lightening. The bike is a bad place
to be in a storm ... Hit the ditch. The final descent into Wendover was amazing.
You crest the final hill and a huge expanse of white stretches out in front of you.
White salt flats as far as the eye can see.

Wendover is a scruffy looking stain on the salt at the base of the mountains ...
Dotted with neon from all the Casinos. Gary - totally agree with you and stayed in
the hotel. Because why should you leave? The rooms have one wall that is all
mirrors, black lacquer furniture and fake tortoise shell walls and doors and 3 big
plastic plants. The casino down stairs is mirrors walls and ceilings with blue and
pink neon lights everywhere. And there is a fake rain forest in the all you can eat
buffet. They lost money on us ... I had 3 plates of food and dessert and I was
eating light compared to my table mates.

Tomorrow is our last ride before a day off. We are riding across the salt flats to
Salt Lake City. Right now the winds don't look promising ... It's a 118 miles day
and we're hoping it shifts to a tail wind.

Day 9: Battle Mountain to Elko, NV

I can tell everyone is getting tired. Nine days of cycling in a row takes its toll. Tired legs. Sore behinds. A bunch of us started in a large group meandering along at around 14 mph, chatting and generally lallygagging. But the problem with riding so slowly is that it may be easier on the legs but it means more hours in the saddle. Hmmm - dilemma. Brad from Ohio and I did the breakaway after around 10 miles.

The day was beautiful. Mostly sunny, cool. The ride was mile after mile of large green expanses of sage brush, wildflowers and greenery framed by mountains. We are still at around 5000 feet elevation in the high desert - the sky is huge. We climbed Emigrant pass and had a fun 10 mile descent. Probably the highlight of the ride today was a 4 mile stretch through Carlin Canyon - which was a key route for the first railroad, road and before that the pioneers going over the California trail on their way to the gold rush. Beautiful with dramatic rock formations and steep walls and wildflower covered riverbanks.

On the ride in the Canyon we met a guy who is the head of the Elko Velo club ... he was marking the road for a time trial coming up. He was telling us how unusual the weather was ... I guess it's usually 100 degrees and brown. I'll take the random rainstorms over that anytime. He was also saying how lucky we were not to have these crazy huge crickets that I guess come out and are everywhere. Bikes smash them and the pop cricket guts everywhere - ugh. They can be so bad they make the interstate slick and the highway patrol puts up warning signs. Funny that's not in the tour literature ...

We're in Elko getting ready for a long day tomorrow 107 miles with some climbing and a long descent to Wendover. Then another 100 + mile ride into Salt Lake. Long days ... hopefully no headwind. Make an offering to the wind gods for me ...

Day 7 and 8: Lovelock to Winnemucca to Battle Mountain ... and Jerry the Cowboy

Lovelock is in the DESERT. It gets an average of less than 6 inches of rain a year. That is probably less than 10 days of rain?

So lucky us ... we got cold rain on the 72 mile ride between Lovelock and Winnemucca. Despite being from Seattle where I should know better, I didn't dress quite warmly enough for the ride. Needed the arm warmer layer under the jacket. See, I had this Pollyanna delusion in my head reinforced by chirpy weather channel talking heads that it would clear off. And it did ... about 2 hours after we arrived in Winnemucca. So despite what was no doubt beautiful country for riding, I was pretty much pedaling as fast as possible with my head down, shaking water off my visor and wiping my glasses so I could see the road. It was one of those rides where you can feel the water sloshing in your bike shoes. Stopped briefly to top off water, pedalled on. Too cold to stop - warmer to keep moving. Needless to say made great time on this ride and arrived before noon.

So the staff at America by Bike pointed out that usually this stretch of the ride was 90 to 100 degrees, and at least we weren't burning up in the desert. Which is true. The locals were ecstatic ... it had been a while for rain.

Rooms weren't ready till 2:00 so some of us headed over to the laundry mat to catch up and then washed off all gear: bike, helmet, jacket, pants, booties - it's all covered in road smooge.

Road smooge is grimier than just mud. It's a toxic mixture of dirt, oil, and whatever else is deposited on the highway since the last rain. Your bike kicks up a trail of it from the rear wheel which goes in a cold mucky streak right up your back. It's up your legs and embedded in your bike chain and derailleurs. If you were at home you might be tempted to ignore it a while, but having to ride the next morning means it's all got to be cleaned up and dried out. But I'm becoming much more zen like about my bike and riding as it's pretty clear on this ride we're going to do things that I never considered possible before and 72 miles in the cold rain is just one of them. Overall that's a good thing.

At the laundromat (a happening place on Saturday afternoon) we saw a large number of cowboys doing laundry. They looked like real cowboys. So I was chatting with a couple while waiting on the spin cycle and they said they were in town for the Nevada State High School Champion Rodeo. Folks from all over the state had come in. SCORE! Gotta get to that while I'm here.

Dinner that night was a a place called the Flying Pig and it had neon pigs in flashing lights and what my roommate Judy calls "beefcake" (cutouts of sexy scantly clad men) taped up around the top of the ladies room. I got the smokehouse which had 3 kinds of meat and was an unbelievably huge platter of food ... scary. No, I didn't eat it all.

The next morning we were riding on to Battle Mountain. (If any bookclubbers are reading, Battle Mountain is one of the towns in The Glass Castle where whatshernames family lived.) Anyway it was only 55 miles today with one decent climb, pretty easy, so we slept in till 7 AM and got a late start. On the way out of town we pass the the fairgrounds and ... SCORE - there is the rodeo. There are 4 of us and in we go.

Now 4 spandex clad cyclists in our tighty shorts and neon jackets and helmets do not exactly fit in at the Rodeo. But it took about 2 minutes to be approached ... "So where are you going on that bike?" That's how I met Jerry - a real life cowboy, movie star handsome who was originally from Longview Washington but ended up in Hollywood working for 30 years as a stuntman in movies. Really! He was great. We chatted for a while and he gave me the lowdown on the area and the rodeo. We were eventually joined by other cyclists and overall it was like the circus came to town. We saw the bareback bronc riding and some calf roping, and then had to move on up the road. It was a blast.

Heading to Battle Mountain turned out to be a harder ride than anticipated. We had a pretty good climb - about 3.5 miles - and some bad road. Bad like - I didn't know you could ride your bike over 6 miles of this. So rough it shook my water bottle cage off and I had to put it back on the road. But now my perspective of "bad road" has been exponentially altered.

We are still doing a lot of interstate riding. It's literally the only way across Nevada and we'll be on it all the way to Salt Lake except for stretches on rural roads when possible. Otherwise no place to stay. It actually isn't bad ... wide shoulder and not that much traffic. And you can go REALLY Fast ... which is kinda nice. Trucks give you a lot of room and the roads except for the 5 miles today are in excellent condition. John - who's doing this ride for the 4th time - gave some great advice about putting an earplug in the traffic side ear ... you can hear easily but it cuts down the roar.

day 6: sparks to lovelock

Stories from Lovelock
Taking an ice bath is part of my daily post-ride routine now. Not my favorite 15 minutes of the day, but boy does it pay off in spades. When my friend Rose (ironman and fleet footed marathoner) first described the ice bath routine after her hard runs I thought she was crazy. Then when I was telling my friend Tim (who helped me train for this ride at his multisport center) about my fear of just being exhausted after 10 days with no rest he suggested giving it a try. Basically what you do is immerse your lower body in cold water for around 15 minutes. It pushes the swelling out of your legs and it's amazing how much better they feel.

In other towns the cold water in the hotel pool has sufficed. So I bring all this up because the pool routine changed dramatically in Lovelock. First, this town has one stoplight. Our hotel is also a casino, as most things in Nevada appear to be casinos. Even the gas stations have slot machines. So when I get into the hotel I see the speedy crowd sitting on the raised stairway in the shade having a beer. Normally we sit by the pool. I join them and then they say go check out the pool ... I head in there and open the door and am hit with heat, chemicals and cigarettes. A note on the door warns that "some colored hair and our pool chemicals don't mix - proceed with caution". I stick my head in and there are about 8 older ladies floating on floaty things. Apparently the hotel pool is also a community pool where they hold water aerobics classes. They welcome me in (all the men had been kicked out earlier)- and let me know the water is quite warm and comfy. So while bobbing in the pool with the Lovelock ladies would have been interesting, I go get a trashcan full of ice and fill up the tub for my ice bath.

Tonight we had dinner at the Cowpoke cafe. It was fabulous --all homemade family style. Our Brit asked if he would get to poke a cow there. They were psyched to have us ... Even took photos.

I think Nevada will be a string of little towns like this. Not much to look at but a lot underneath the run down buildings.

The ride today was beautiful. We were riding through the Great Basin and salt flats. Big expanses of flat earth - much coated by salt that was white and reflecting light. Mountains rose in the background. We even passed some wetlands. I could swear I saw a pelican ...

It was 90 miles today - and relatively flat compared to the last few days. I made good time averaging almost 18 mph. It was the type of territory that you would drive through as fast as possible but when you slow down its really beautiful.

day 5: Truckee to Sparks NV

65 miles

It was freezing this morning - low 30s. Time to break out the winter riding pants, jacket, long fingered gloves, shoe booties and complain a tad.

But it was beautiful and the light was white and the air was clear and pure. We headed south towards Lake Tahoe and got on a great bike trail that followed the Truckee river. I've ridden this route several times before with TNT, but we had to share the trail with a few thousand other cyclists and try not to run over each other. This time it was empty. The river is so clear you can see the fish. Their was mist rising off the river, and it was beautiful.

On the way out of Truckee I met a guy named Butch cruising along on his bike with a trailer, a rear rack and 2 front paniers. He estimated it weighed about 60 or 70 pounds. So apparently he biked the exact same route yesterday we did - same climbing - with and extra 70 pounds. Pretty amazing ... No support, nothing. Rode with him a bit. He was going on to Carson City. Just to keep things in perspective ...

I think Lake Tahoe is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Blue water and mountains and trees ... We biked around the north end to Incline Village and then headed north hover Rose Mountain. Hit a bakery in Kings Beach before we started the climb and. Had doughnut the size of my head (yum). The lake is high - at 6200 feet. The top of the summit is 8900 feet. It was an 8+ mile climb ... We climbed up through the forest to sub-alpine thinning trees and finally to alpine meadows and snow fields. It was freezing up there and even got a few snow flakes. This was one of the few rides where the descent was longer than the climb. 16 + miles of descent and ended up outside of Reno at around 4500 feet.

It was amazing how the landscape changed on the other side - the desert came immediately. Bare sand, sage brush ... It looks a lot like Eastern Washington. Reno and Sparks are like one big strip mall with casinos.

This was a great day - lots of poking around and picture taking. Tomorrow will be completely different - desert and highway.

Day 4: Auburn to Truckee

Today's ride was incredible. 72 miles and over 8000 feet of climbing. It was 55 miles up hill. That's a lot. But it went great. Beautiful day. Gorgeous country side.

We started out at 5:15 AM loading luggage and then off to Dennys for the Grand Slam ... Great pre-ride food. I'm becoming partial to eggs and pancakes - stay away from the pig. Then road out and started climbing within 5 miles. We were in rolling hills through woodland - parts were pretty steep 10+% grade but most were gradual climbs of around 6% grades. Tree lined roads reminded me of some of Washingtons big trees, huge ferns and wildflowers.

We wound through woods for the first 30 miles and then got on Interstate 80 East. Now riding your bike on the interstate is clearly not ideal. But it was the only route. We were on it for around 18 miles. You don't realize how loud cars and trucks are till they are whizzing by you at 80mph. Feel pretty vulnerable out there. Lots of incentive to climb (cause it was all uphill) as fast as possible.

We had a little excitement, and had to get off the highway and re-group due to construction. The Forman walked us through the site, but it took almost an hour to get enough riders collected there to be sent through. Then more interstate. I amused myself by making a movie which I'll attempt to post on what it's like to be an idiot and ride your bike on the interstate.

Now there is not much to look at on the interstate other than glimpses of whatever views are peeking through and observe the garbage and debris. What I want to know is what's up with all the plastic bottle full of pee by the side of the road. WHO DOES THAT?! Nasty. If you do it - quit!

So we survived teh interstate and headed up for the best part of the day. The last climb was up Donner Pass Road, and it wound through beautiful woods and lakes and near sub alpine forests and wildflowers all the way to the top of the pass 7200 feet. Gorgeous. Heaven. Worth the climbing. Spectacular views, and just a great feeling to have accomplished that climb and be rewarded with that beauty.

Then the Decent. Even better views of Donner Lake, the valley and the snowcapped mountains. And going down is fun. Especially going down steep curvy mountain passes (in a safe and controlled manner of course).

A long 12 miles to the hotel by the lake and through old town Truckee. One thing is with the riding you are tired and may or may not have energy to be a tourist ... cest la vie.

Tomorrow we go around the top end of Lake Tahoe - familiar territory - and over Rose Pass (not Spooner) to Sparks Nevada.

Day 3: Sacramento to Auburn ... And Congratulations and THANK YOU TNT

First - a quick Congratulations and Thank you to all my friends with Team in Training. They just completed a fund raising ride around Lake Tahoe on Sunday and raised thousands of dollars for Leukemia research. As many of you know, I trained with them when I first started distance riding in 2005, and Tahoe was my first Century. Tomorrow I'll be thinking of them as we go into Truckee - part of the Tahoe Century course - and then around the north part of the lake the day after. They were so great in answering all my dumb questions and encouraging me. And they continue to offer that opportunity to others every year. TNT changes lives ... Really. So big congratulations to all the first time TNTers, and a thank you to everyone from that program I've ridden with over the last few years and let me ride with them again this year to help train.

Today was another beautiful day. The ride was fairly short - around 50 miles. This is probably good because tomorrow will be a beast of a ride ... 70+ miles and over 8000 feet of climbing. Everyone is a little freaked out about it - especially the Floridians who don't have anything but overpasses to train on. For perspective, it will be the equivalent of a 55 mile hill. Ok but more on that tomorrow ...

Today the first 30 miles were on a great bike trail that hugged the American River between Sacramento and Folsom Dam/Lake/Prison. Trail was in great shape ... If only the Burke was so well maintained (hint if any of my city of Seattle employee friends are reading ...). It meandered by the river and then started to roll as we entered the foothills. Lovely country. We stopped by Folsom lake with the prison in the background ... I wanted to hear some Johnny Cash - got to get him on my blackberry ...

The ride into Auburn was basically one long climb ... A wake up climb for tomorrow. We were entering the foothills of the Sierras. We followed a highway that was dotted by McMansions, horses and dog breeding farms, subdivided 3 acre lots ... You know the type of place. When you are climbing long distances you are moving pretty slowly so there is lots of time to observe what's around you. I thought it was hysterical and pretty indicative that the most common road debris were golf balls - counted at least 5.

Auburn is a really great little town. Tons of history. The first gold in CA that kicked off the Gold Rush was discovered 20 miles from there. It was the first capital of the state, the railway came through there and claims the oldest post office in the West. Very cute with old buildings still intact. We had lunch at a little place and chatted a while with the owner who came over after we told her we were doing the xcountry ride. Turns out she (Alex) runs a lot of endurance events in town - including a killer bike ride in September. Auburncentury.com or wildestride.com. They rival RAMROD in length/elevation -if anyone's interested. She offered to find housing with locals ... I guess Auburn is know for it's endurance events. One of the premier ultra marathons - 100 miles from Tahoe to Auburn - is in June. They apparently have the hardest half iron man in the country. Anyway ... If anyone's interested I would be up for having a little vacation/biking/hiking time down here - it's gorgeous.

Then we wandered up to the old capital and found a county history museum in the basement. Interesting arrest warrants, the women's jail, actual gold in it's unrefined form that was found in the area and other stuff. And funnily there was a couple with the last name of Pate who have an amazing Indian basket artifact collection - they were doctors and took goods in the place of payment and were big advocates for Native Americans at the time. Distant relatives ? Gotta research it ...

OK - we're riding out at 5:15 tomorrow ... Going to be a long day

San Fran to Vallejo to Sacramento (with candy heaven added bonus)

Day 1 - San Fran to Vallejo

75 miles

During orientation, they made the point that this ride was called the Cross Country Challenge, not the Cross Country Easy.

Day 1 was fabulous. But definitely through in many things challenging about cycling into the first day.

We started in Burlingame and rode into San Fran to the beach just south of Golden Gate Park. Madronas all along the route. Gorgeous sand beach with the coast snaking off into hills to the north. We picked up our bikes and hauled them 1/4 mile to the ocean and dunked the wheel in the pacific. Photo. Haul the bike back. Then ride north through the city - fabulous and quiet at 8 am on Sunday morning, and to Golden Gate Park and over the GG Bridge. That was a blast. Photo. Then north and East through Saucilito (photo photo) and hugged the bay inland. We hit the burbs where we counted 5 plastic surgery offices in about a mile. Considered getting a little "work" done so you could all tell me how this ride took off 10 years. Then outside of the Bay metro area and into farmland. Past San Quentin Prison ... Dang that is one huge compound of badness. Complete with big vultures hanging around outside. And then a fast ride with a great tail wind down a highway into Vallejo.

This was challenging because it took forever. Lots of climbing, regrouping, photos, etc. Tons of foot down for the first 50 miles. My average speed was 11 mph ... That's a long day. Everyone is nervous, and it was when you could really tell who had basic bike skills. Navigating was very time consuming and took a committee and an occasional Garman. There were 2 crashes - one sadly that ended with a cyclist dislocating his clavical and being sent home. Both were due to inattention ... A good reminder about how important it is to err on the side of caution on a ride this long (the odds start to be stacked against you I think with multiple days so control the risks you can).

Day 2 Vallejo to Sacramento

75 miles

Today was comparatively easy. It started with some climbing -including a couple of nasty steep hills a few hundred yards from the hotel. Warm up hills. Then we dropped into a valley with gorgeous fields and mountains in the distance. Perfect weather.

Some of us took a detour to tour the Jelly Belly Factory. That was a blast. Did you know it takes 7 to 21 days to make a Jelly Bean. Or that you can mix a chocolate with a cherry jelly bean and have a recipe. for chocolate covered cherries? Very fun stop. Then pedaled on through farmland till we went right through the UC Davis Campus. Then a stop at the In and Out Burger for what many swear to be the best fast food burger ever. Then smoked back in with another nice tail wind. Decent pace on this ride - 16.5 mph average. Fun and pretty low key. Beautiful country. Gorgeous sunny weather. Fresh local strawberries at the SAG stop. A quick swim in the river before dinner.

the lowdown

Well, my clever idea of blogging via blackberry has had its challenges. But I'm back ...

We all arrived at the lovely Holiday Inn Express in Burlingame, just outside San Fran on Saturday. Lots of organizing and orienting.

There are 23 riders total. Only 4 of us are women, which really surprises me. Cycling still is about 2/3 men to women, but this is pretty low proportionately. But the good news is with so few women I paid for a three to a room and got upgraded to two and it's pretty amazing to see the men lined up for the restroom while the women just breeze on in. So that's good.

We have to ride leaders who deal with logistics, hotels, solving problems, etc. A wonderful bike mechanic who is also a professional bike racer and pretty interesting to talk to. My room mate is on staff and she is helping run the SAG (support van), etc. She's a former participant who has a real job doing IT. And one of the directors 20 year old son who is the gopher and bag loader. And I think along for the ride. All are nice and very capable and fun.
We are staying in hotels - Holiday Inn and Best Western types. Food is all about quantity and variety - not necessarily fine dining. And that makes sense, too given the quantities we are already putting down.

Folks are getting to know each other and naturally grouping together for rides by speed and ability. It's interesting to watch it happen. There a some guys who are bent to get in first, and a group that's already named itself the "stops a lot" group. I'm in the middle ... We can ride hard but take detours and photo and milk shake breaks.

The group is settling in. Trying to remember names. I keep getting confused with the other youngish woman :) and I can't keep all the white haired guys straight yet. But as I get to know them individually it helps. Most are pretty interesting
And have a story to tell. Most are going all the way across. We have 2 leaving in Salt Lake and are picking up more along the way. Around 40 riders total.

The routes have been beautiful so far - I don't know how they have strung together this crazy rides of bike paths,, highways, abandoned roads and country roads. Our first cue sheet was 8 pages long. I'm really happy with what were seeing and riding so far ... It holds we'll be in for a great trip.

San Fran and Lookin good

Arrived in San Fran without a hitch. Interesting group of riders - a Swiss, Brit and S. Korean with his own film crew raising money for a charity in Korea. And a group of Floridians who swear their hill training consisted of hill repeats up overpasses since FL is so flat. Only 4 women. Staff seems nice. We start tomorrow. Biking to the ocean for the official rear wheel dunking and then inland to Vallejo. Bike is ready and unscathed from shipping. Weather is gorgeous - hope it holds.

very cool geeky Garmin feature

I finally figured out how I could use my Garmin forerunner to capture each day of the ride to map out the route via GPS and link it onto the blog. Mind you I've had this Garmin for over 2 years, and it's taken this trip to actually get beyond the basics of what it's capable of doing.

Providing I actually am disciplined enough to do it regularly (this is a long shot), I can download the exact route we take each and also capture nifty but not necessarily useful information like elevation gain and decent, heart rate, pace, etc. Sort of an online archive of the exact route with GPS mapping and fitness benchmarks. And it can be exported into Google Earth where you can do everything from take a simulated flight to zoom down to see the terrain.

There is a link on the blog now with some earlier training rides if you want to check it out ...

Getting ready

Amazing how many little tasks before heading out of town for seven weeks. Talk the postman into holding my mail beyond the 30 days allowed. Last minute aphid infestation kill in the garden. Trip to Home Depot to buy pipe insulation to protect my carbon fiber bike from the TSA folks who are notoriouosly careless when they repack your bike box after opening it. Trying to identify and prepay all the bills. And hooking up and testing my new keyboard for the blackberry so I don't have to bring my laptop on the trip ... A good idea for not working and not ruining my work lifeline at home. So this is the first test of doing an entry using just my blackberry and the keyboard ... Pretty nifty. More later ...

What should I make sure to see on the way?

Greetings!

I've had tons of questions about my cross country ride, and thought doing a blog could be a fun way to communicate, share stories, meet up with friends on the way and post photos.

So ... the route and schedule are posted below. Give my your travel advice. I'd really hate to bike obliviously by great sites, food or kitsch. So have a look at the schedule and recommend local food specialities, local sites, tacky tourist opportunities, secret swimming holes or opportunities for a visit if I'm passing through your town.

Thanks!

Trip Schedule and hotel contact information

2009 Cross Country Challenge

Day 0 Saturday, June 6, 2009
Holiday Inn Express, 1250 Bayshore Hv.'Y" Burlingame, CA 94010
650-347-2381 FAX 650-685-8838

Day 1 Sunday, June 7,2009
San Francisco to Viejo, CA 73 miles, 3300 feet climb
Quality Inn, 44 Admiral Callaghan Ln., Vallejo, CA 94591
707-643-1061 FAX 707-643-4719

Day 2 Monday, June 8, 2009
Viejo CA - Sacramento CA 68 miles, 1100 feet climbing
Best Western Sandman, 236 Jibboom St., Sacramento, CA 95814
916-443-6515 FAX 916-443-8346

Day 3 Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Sacramento - Auburn CA 51 miles, 2380 feet climbing
Comfort Inn, 1875 Auburn Ravine Rd., Auburn, CA 95603
530-885-1800 FAX 530-888-6424

Day 4 Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Auburn CA - Truckee CA 74 miles, 8450 feet climbing (ouch!)
Best Western Truckee Tahoe Inn, 11331 Brockway Rd., Truckee, CA 96161
530-587-4525 FAX 530-587-8173

Day 5 Thursday, June 11,2009
Truckee - Sparks NV 65 miles, 4750 feet climbing
Holiday Inn, 55 East Nugget Ave., Sparks, NV 89431
775-358-6900 FAX 775-359-6065

Day 6 Friday, June 12, 2009
Sparks NV - Lovelock NV 91 miles, 3250 feet climbing
Sturgeon's Inn, 1420 Cornell Ave. orp.a. Box 56, Lovelock, NV 89419
775-273-2971 FAX 775-273-2278

Day 7 Saturday, June 13,2009
Lovelock NV - Winnemucca NV 72 miles, 1520 feet climbing
Best Western, 921 West Winnemucca Blvd., Winnemucca, NV 89445
775-623-6999 FAX 775-623-9190

Day 8 Sunday, June 14, 2009
Winnemucca NV - Battle Mountain NV 55 miles, 1650 feet climbing
Comfort Inn, 521 East Front St., Battle Mountain, NV 89820
775-635-5880 FAX 775-635-5788

Day 9 Monday, June 15,2009
Battle Mountain, NV - Elko NV 72 miles, 2500 climbing
High Desert Inn, 3015 Idaho Street, Elko, NV 89801
775-738-8425 FAX 775-753-7906

Day 10 Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Elko NV - Wendover UT 108 miles, 3350 feet climbing
The Rainbow, 1045 Wendover Blvd., P.O. Box 2457, Wendover, NV 89883
775-664-4000 FAX 775-664-6736

Day 11 Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Wendover UT - Salt Lake City UT 117 miles, 1450 climbing
Airport Comfort Inn, 200 N. Admiral Byrd Rd., Salt Lake City, UT 84116
801-746-5200 FAX 801-532-4721

Day 12 Thursday, June 18,2009 (Rest Day) finally!
Airport Comfort Inn, 200 N. Admiral Byrd Rd., Salt Lake City, UT 84116
801-746-5200 FAX 801-532-4721

Day 13 Friday, June 19, 2009
Salt Lake - Provo 65 miles, 1850 feet climbing
Fairfield Inn, 1515 South University Ave., Provo, UT 84601
801-377-9500 FAX 801-377-9591

Day 14 Saturday, June 20,2009
Provo - Price UT 75 miles, 3930 climbing
Holiday Inn, 838 Westwood Blvd., Price, UT 84501
435-637-8880 FAX 435-637-7707

Day 15 Sunday, June 21, 2009
Price - Green River UT 67 miles, 1300 feet climbing
Holiday Inn Express, 1845 E. Main St., P.O. Box 659, Green River, UT 84525
435-564-4439 FAX 435-564-3333

Day 16 Monday, June 22, 2009
Green River - Grand Junction CO 96 miles, 3600 climbing
West Gate Inn, 2210 Hwy. 6 & 50, Grand Junction, CO 81505
970-241-3020 FAX 970-243-4516

Day 17 Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Grand Junction - Montrose 70 miles, 3130 climbing
Econolodge, 2100 E. Main St., Montrose, CO 81401
970-240-8000 FAX 970-240-4770

Day 18 Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Montrose - Gunnison 63 miles, 5050 climbing
Day's Inn, 701 West Hwy. 50, Gunnison, CO 81230
970-641-0608 FAX 970-641-2854

Day 19 Thursday, June 25, 2009
Gunnison - Salida CO, 66 miles, 4080 climbing
Gateway Inn & Suites, 1310 East Hwy. 50, Salida, CO 81201
719-539-2895 FAX 719-539-2953

Day 20 Friday, June 26, 2009
Salida - Pueblo CO, 95 miles, 2500 climbing
Holiday Inn, 4530 Dillon Dr., Pueblo, CO 81008
719-542-8888 FAX 719-542-8889

Day 21 Saturday, June 27, 2009 (Rest Day)
Holiday Inn, 4530 Dillon Dr., Pueblo, CO 81008
719-542-8888 FAX 719-542-8889

Day 22 Sunday, June 28, 2009
Pueblo CO - Lamar CO 121 miles, 1100 climbing
Best Western Cow Palace Inn, 1301 N. Main, Lamar, CO 81052
719-336-7753 FAX 719-336-9598

Day 23 Monday, June 29, 2009
Lamar - Garden City KS 105 miles, 1000 climbing
Comfort Inn, 2608 E. Kansas Ave., Garden City, KS 67846
620-275-5800 FAX 620-276-2204

Day 24 Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Garden City - Dodge City KS 51 miles, 650 climbing
Dodge House Hotel, 2408 West Wyatt Earp Blvd., Dodge City, KS 67801
620-225-9900 FAX 620-227-5012

Day 25 Wednesday, July 1,2009
Dodge City - Great Bend KS, 85 miles, 280 feet climbing
Highland Hotel & Conv. Center, 3017 West Tenth St., Great Bend, KS 67530
620-792-2431 FAX 620-792-5561

Day 26 Thursday, July 2, 2009
Great Bend - McPherson KS 64 miles, 510 climbing
Best Western, 2211 E. Kansas Ave., McPherson, KS 67460
620-241-5343 FAX 620-241-8086

Day 27 Friday, July 3, 2009
McPherson KS - Abilene KS 64 miles, 525 climbing
Holiday Inn Express, 110 E. Lafayette Ave., Abilene, KS 67410
785-263-4049 FAX 785-263-3201

Day 28 Saturday, July 4, 2009
Abilene - Topeka KS 108 miles, 3300 climbing
Holiday Inn West, 605 SW Fairlawn Rd., Topeka, KS 66606
785-272-8040 FAX 785-272-8762

Day 29 Sunday, July 5,2009
Topeka - St. Joseph MO 88 miles, 2850 climbing
Drury Inn, 4213 Frederick Blvd., St. Joseph, MO 64506
816-364-4700 FAX 888-213-7720

Day 30 Monday, July 6, 2009 (Rest Day)
Drury Inn, 4213 Frederick Blvd., St. Joseph, MO 64506
816-364-4700 FAX 888-213-7720

Day 31 Tuesday, July 7,2009
St. Joseph MO - Chillicothe, MO 89 miles, 3350 climbing
Best Western Inn, 1020 s. Washington, Chillicothe, MO 64601
660-646-0572 FAX 660-646-1274

Day 32 Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Chillicothe MO - Kirksville MO 83 miles, 4300 climbing
Day's Inn, 3805 s. Baltimore, Kirksville, MO 63501
660-665-8244 FAX 660-665-8244

Day 33 Thursday, July 9, 2009
Kirksville MO - Quincy IL 97 miles, 2950 climbing
Comfort Inn, 4122 Broadway, Quincy, IL 62305
217-228-2700 FAX 217-228-2700

Day 34 Friday, July 10,2009
Quincy IL - Springfield IL 106 miles, 1750 climbing
Day's Inn, 3000 Stevenson, Springfield, IL 62701
217-529-0171 FAX 217-529-9431

Day 35 Saturday, July 11,2009
Springfield - Champaign IL 97 miles, 790 climbing
Comfort Inn, 305 Marketview Drive, Champaign, IL 61821
217-352-4055 FAX 217-352-4055

Day 36 Sunday, July 12, 2009
Champaign IL - Crawfordsville IL 82 miles, 1100 climbing
Quality Inn, 2500 N. Lafayette Rd., Crawfordsville, IN 47933
765-362-8700 FAX 765-362-8700

Day 37 Monday, July 13,2009
Crawfordsville IN - Indianapolis IN 62 miles, 700
Comfort Suites, 515 S. West St., Indianapolis, IN 46225
317-631-9000 FAX 317-822-4100

Day 38 Tuesday, July 14,2009 (Rest Day)
Comfort Suites, 515 S. West St., Indianapolis, IN 46225
317-631-9000 FAX 317-822-4100

Day 39 Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Indianapolis - Richmond IN 74 miles, 1050 climbing
Holiday Inn, 5501 National Road East, Richmond, IN 47374
765-966-7511 FAX 765-966-4612

Day 40 Thursday, July 16,2009
Richmond - Marysville OH 104 miles, 2010 climbing
Super 8,16510 Square Drive, Marysville, OH 43040
937-644-8821 FAX 937-644-8821

Day 41 Friday, July 17,2009
Marysville OH - Wooster OH 104 miles, 3800 climbing
Best Western, 243 E. Liberty St., Wooster, OH 44691
330-264-7750 FAX 330-262-5840

Day 42 Saturday, July 18, 2009
Wooster OH - Niles OH 93 miles, 3000 climbing
Country Inn & Suites, 5570 Interstate Blvd., Youngstown, OR 44515
330-544-0300 FAX 330-544-0301

Day 43 Sunday, July 19,2009
Niles OH - Erie PA 96 miles, 1450 climbing
Avalon Hotel, 16 West 10th Street, Erie, PA 16501
814-459-2220 FAX 814-459-2322

Day 44 Monday, July 20, 2009 (Rest Day)
Avalon Hotel, 16 West 10th Street, Erie, PA 16501
814-459-2220 FAX 814-459-2322

Day 45 Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Erie PA - Hamburg NY 81 miles, 1450 climbing
Comfort Inn & Suites, 3615 Commerce PI., Hamburg, NY 14075
716-648-2922 FAX 716-648-2904

Day 46 Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Hamburg NY - Canandaigua NY 94 miles, 3850 climbing
Super 8, 4450 Eastern Blvd., Canandaigua, NY 14424
585-396-7224 FAX 585-396-7333

Day 47 Thursday, July 23, 2009
Canandaigua NY - Liverpool NY 69 miles, 2150 climbing
Clarion Inn, 401 Seventh North St., Liverpool, NY 13088
315-451-6000 FAX 315-451-0193

Day 48 Friday, July 24, 2009
Liverpool NY - Little Falls NY 79 miles, 1600 climbing
Knights Inn, 20 Albany Street, Little Falls, NY 13365
315-823-4954 FAX 315-823-4507

Day 49 Saturday, July 25, 2009
Little Falls NY - Latham NY 83 miles, 2100 climbing
Ramada, 946 New Loudon Rd., Latham, NY 12110
518-783-6162 FAX 518-783-0154

Day 50 Sunday, July 26, 2009
Latham - Brattleboro VT 77 miles, 5050 climbing
Holiday Inn Express, 100 Chickering Dr., Brattleboro, VT 05301
802-257-2400 FAX 802-257-8616

Day 51 Monday, July 27, 2009
Brattleboro VT - Manchester NH 86 miles, 6000 climbing
Comfort Inn, 298 Queen City Ave., Manchester, NH 03102
603-668-2600 FAX 603-668-2600

Day 52 Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Manchester NY - Portsmouth NY 62 miles 2500 feet climbing
Best Inn, 383 Woodbury Ave., Portsmouth, NH 03801 603-431-4400 FAX 603-43 J -4845

July 29 - fly home to Seattle

Cross country route via google earth